Tom, I think you are over-thinking it...
Business model:
Step 1: have a product somebody wants to buy.
Step 2: sell it and make money.
They are still working on Step 1 after 12 years and at least $25 million in accumulated operating losses.
Same M.O. now as before, though. Lots of PRs announcing partnerships, licensing deals, development contracts, beta testing completed and predictions of production starting in six months. Just the names of the engine models and partners change over time.
Even though Harry Schoell told shareholders at the 2011 Open House that all technical problems have been overcome, Cyclone's entire effort since then has been to fix these already-fixed problems while sweeping the truth under the rug.
If the SEC wasn't so short-staffed, Harry and Frankie would be gone for securities fraud for failing to disclose material facts.
